And so it starts, Maeve

[1st 5er]

Looks like I’ll be picking up Maeve this weekend.

[gwb72tii]

another picture of progress, this time of the euro valance, front fenders and rear deck lid. I'm getting anxious to have it back and start the rebuild process.

[gwb72tii]

More progress.

[gwb72tii]

I've started to repair/refurbish both the A/C and heater boxes. Part of that was replacing the heater core and this, the evaporator and expansion valve.
On the way back to the Pacific Northwest from Mesa, AZ neither the A/C or heater worked. I'm not sure if any of these parts needed to be replaced but I do not want to be forced to remove the HVAC system after reinstalling it.

[Mike W.]

It looks right from here, but be sure to check you have the right evaporator, several here have bought E28 replacements and gotten E24 evaps, which I am told do not fit.

I don't see a heater core, IMO they fail more than evaporators, and are brand specific, most are Bosch/Behr but I was lucky (not) and had a Sofica, which had to be replaced with a Sofica heater core when mine failed. Price was similar, I just had to make sure I got the right one.

[gwb72tii]

I had already replaced the core and put the heater box back together.

[gwb72tii]

Maeve is back! And now onto putting her put back together. I think the hardest part will be all of the wiring under the dash. There is a logic to it, and BMW changes connectors so it's hard to misconnect two different circuits.

It wasn't supposed to rain on Saturday, but of course it did as soon as we reached the body shop.


My body shop guy said my car looked like it lived its life on a golf course, many many dents everywhere. Well, they're all gone:


And this came yesterday.
if you remember, this is what the dash looked like when I bought Maeve:


This is what her dash looks like now:


I was a bit apprehensive about using Just Dashes as some of you had less than great experiences with them, but the dash looks nice and my experience was good. Expensive but good.

First thing to do is to remove the carpet and see if I can clean it up. It is terrible after 34 years of abuse, spilled drinks, dirt and hot weather. Then it's removing the motor and tranny. The shifter is so bad that it was always a challenge to select the right gear when driving north from Mesa AZ.

[gwb72tii]

More progress today. Maeve had aftermarket tinted windows, so dark it was hard to see into the car. I can see where, if you live in AZ, they might be desirable, but not up here in WA state where too much sun is not a problem.

Thanks to YouTube and those that had done this before me, removing the window tint was about a easy as it could be. Heat gun and patience.

[gwb72tii]

I just saw something that surprised me on Maeve. The PO used spacers on the rear wheels, and the left rear wheel is spaced further out than the right rear! At least, with the level of restoration needed on this car, I’ll be able to correct all the wrongs before getting her on the road.
Pretty crazy though.

[Mike W.]

I just saw something that surprised me on Maeve. The PO used spacers on the rear wheels, and the left rear wheel is spaced further out than the right rear! At least, with the level of restoration needed on this car, I’ll be able to correct all the wrongs before getting her on the road.
Pretty crazy though.

That's funny as from the factory the left side is slightly further out than the right and many, including myself, have had problems with tires rubbing, on the left side only.

[tig]

Holy shit buckets. I'm sad I've missed this thread until now.

Thank you for deciding to go with single-stage Glasurit. You will be soooo much happier that you did. And you will start to notice Zinno resprays with two-stage...and how much better your car looks. .

I know you think you've bit off too much here, but I don't agree. You are doing amazing work.

Subscribed for life!

[gwb72tii]

It was your use of Glasurit on Vlad that helped make up my mind for me. My 2002tii was painted with Dupont and it will never look correct (until I have it repainted).

[gray635]

George:

What a great build! Top work.

I was glad to be able to make a very small contribution to Maeve with that driver's side sun visor I shipped out to you today. I will continue to follow your project with great interest and enjoyed very much our text message exchanges today.

Safe travels and good luck!

Regards,
Mike

[gwb72tii]

ok, so here is a question for all of you mechanics.
My car came with H&R springs.
So I looked at the code on the springs and H&R says they are for an e34!
Why would someone install these springs?

anybody try this, using e34 springs on their e28?

[gwb72tii]

a few things done today.

Talked to Mr Fixit about brightening my taillights, and he suggested a good bath for the lights to clean them. The pic doesn't show it but there is around 30+ years of Arizona dust in and on the lights. Then adding one of his upgrades!


and then, with new gaskets, I re-installed the taillights, at least for now, just to see how it looks. I know this isn't much, but its exciting to me as the taillights are the first pieces to go back ON the car!


And the lower edge of the rear valance turned out pretty nice. These are before and after pics:



I am super happy with my body shop man, Brian Hanson. Great guy to deal with, more than reasonable cost wise, and quality workmanship. There is still some light orangepeel to polish out, but the car looks great.

I love zinnoberrot

[1st 5er]

Looking super.
Keep those pics and updates coming.

[gwb72tii]

George:

What a great build! Top work.

I was glad to be able to make a very small contribution to Maeve with that driver's side sun visor I shipped out to you today. I will continue to follow your project with great interest and enjoyed very much our text message exchanges today.

Safe travels and good luck!

Regards,
Mike

Back at you barrister. Happy Fourth of July, and make sure you're having fun along the way! Got the visor today and it looks good.
I'll be seeing you somewhere along the way.

[tig]

Looking fantastic.

Did I miss the reasoning behind not doing the euro-exhaust cutout?

[gwb72tii]

haha no cek, I didn't know there was such a thing until well into the process.

but here is a serious question for you and others that run euro bumpers.
I am going to install a Supersprint exhaust system, and am planning on using the same rear muffler as you and others have used. Is the cutout necessary or will the exhaust tips clear the lip of the rear valance without modifying it?

[Panici]

Maeve looks great! New paintjob makes it pop.
Can't believe the price on that gallon of paint, but at least you got it while it's still being produced.

How much did the bodywork & paint end up running, if you don't mind me asking?

I paid dearly for my E30's paintjob. I don't think I'll ever pay to get another car bodyworked & painted, but I don't regret my decision. Next time I paint a car I'm going to try my hand and probably end up with a "good enough" job.

[John in VA]

Maeve looks great! New paintjob makes it pop.
Can't believe the price on that gallon of paint, but at least you got it while it's still being produced.

Red is one of the priciest colors.

[gwb72tii]

Today is one of those days in the Pacific Northwest, 75* and perfect. So I had all my cars outside and snapped a pic. The A5 is has sold as of today FWIW.

[gwb72tii]

Maeve came with e34 H&R springs which is a little weird.
So, I am going to replace the springs with e28 lowering springs. As long as I’m starting from scratch, I thought I’d ask those of you that have gone through this if you have any preference between Eibach and H&R?

The last two e30’s I owned had H&R on one and Eibach on the other. Frankly I thought the Eibach rode better and the car’s stance looked better. But that may not translate over to e28’s.

Any one have an opinion?

[1st 5er]

Ran Eibach's and HD's on Das Biest for 10 + years with no complaints.

[e12euro]

Good story.
I have the same coffee stain on the carpet. Didn’t people drink anything while driving back in 80s? I’ve been working on some e28 cup holder solution, but haven’t finished yet.
Curious to see how the 3700 m30 work out.

Me too. The performance should be equal or better than the ‘88 M5 (sorry M5 gang, no disrespect intended).
So far I’m starting to realize my budget is too low

Metric Mechanic's old MM3900 engine was rated at 300 hp with L-jet back in the 1990s. One was put in a silver 1977 e12 530i owned by Jay Jones and featured in European Car magazine in 1993, it did some impressive burnouts.

[Mike W.]

Good story.
I have the same coffee stain on the carpet. Didn’t people drink anything while driving back in 80s? I’ve been working on some e28 cup holder solution, but haven’t finished yet.
Curious to see how the 3700 m30 work out.

Me too. The performance should be equal or better than the ‘88 M5 (sorry M5 gang, no disrespect intended).
So far I’m starting to realize my budget is too low

Metric Mechanic's old MM3900 engine was rated at 300 hp with L-jet back in the 1990s. One was put in a silver 1977 e12 530i owned by Jay Jones and featured in European Car magazine in 1993, it did some impressive burnouts.

There is much skepticism about MM HP numbers. And I do recall both that magazine, the writeup, and saw it (I think) in SD at 5er Fest 2004. But a good running 10:1 3.5 is impressive, especially in L jet, which probably gives a better torque curve, but less absolute HP than Motronic. With admittedly very old tires, once I got my euro 3.5 running right in my E12 I could spin the tires at will in first gear. Clutch out, just push down on the loud pedal and they'd spin. M5s are heavy, M5 territory? I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not. They might, or might not, have hit 300HP, but with 3.9, higher compression and more cam I'm sure it was/will be impressive. I'm suspect an M5 would pull it on top speed, but up to 80 or 100 MPH it might be a contest.

[gwb72tii]

MM is quoting about 285 hp.

If you go to their website, read the write up about their design, much of it is what someone like me would do on their own. Other than the reason for the new pistons which from an engineering standpoint is outside of my engineering background. Everything I’ve read makes sense.

As I mentioned before, I was going to attempt to rebuild the motor on my own which is within my mechanical capability. But after talking with Jim, there are more than a few areas where the tolerances are outside of my scope to measure and adjust. And there is way more to building a motor than a cam and high compression. So for once in my life I am happy to pay someone else to scrape their knuckles and pull on a torque wrench. It wasn’t a easy decision as I’ve never paid someone else to work on a car that I can work on.

The proof will be in the end result eh?

[e12euro]

Good story.
I have the same coffee stain on the carpet. Didn’t people drink anything while driving back in 80s? I’ve been working on some e28 cup holder solution, but haven’t finished yet.
Curious to see how the 3700 m30 work out.

Me too. The performance should be equal or better than the ‘88 M5 (sorry M5 gang, no disrespect intended).
So far I’m starting to realize my budget is too low

Metric Mechanic's old MM3900 engine was rated at 300 hp with L-jet back in the 1990s. One was put in a silver 1977 e12 530i owned by Jay Jones and featured in European Car magazine in 1993, it did some impressive burnouts.

There is much skepticism about MM HP numbers. And I do recall both that magazine, the writeup, and saw it (I think) in SD at 5er Fest 2004. But a good running 10:1 3.5 is impressive, especially in L jet, which probably gives a better torque curve, but less absolute HP than Motronic. With admittedly very old tires, once I got my euro 3.5 running right in my E12 I could spin the tires at will in first gear. Clutch out, just push down on the loud pedal and they'd spin. M5s are heavy, M5 territory? I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not. They might, or might not, have hit 300HP, but with 3.9, higher compression and more cam I'm sure it was/will be impressive. I'm suspect an M5 would pull it on top speed, but up to 80 or 100 MPH it might be a contest.

I am looking at the 1993 article right now, can you believe this was nigh on 30 years ago?! They said to get to 300 hp you had to use yellow D-jet injectors, and even got 57 hp on a test with a D-jet blue injector. Whatever the result, the car seemed powerful. Yeah, I remember seeing pictures of the car (Barnyard Bimmer) on First Fives concerning the 5er Fest back in 2004. I believe Jay Jones still owned the car at the time. Back in those days there were still a healthy number of e12s around.

Proven fact, the 2 valve Euro M30B34 motor (3,430 cc) was hotted up by Alpina for Group A racing in several countries (635CSi), and that motor made 295 hp at 6,900 rpm, and they had an Evo 2 version later that made 310 hp at 7,200 rpm. And of course the e34 M5's S38B36 motor made 315 hp at 6,900 rpm. This is all DIN hp. Group A racing was pretty production car related, so yes, you can get big numbers out of a M30.

MM says they used a 95mm bore piston on the 3.7L and 3.9L, an 86mm stroke on the 3.7L, 90mm stroke on the 3.9L. The M88 and M90 motors had a 93.4mm bore (and people thought that was pushing it) and BMW used 94mm when racing the IMSA CSL e9 coupes in the mid '70s. BMW X-rayed the blocks to check if there was enough cylinder wall to make it safe.

From Jim Rowe's description of the MM 3700 Rally engine's internal work, the 285 hp dyno figure seems legit. After all the s38B35 only had 9.5:1 and smog gear. BMW's factory figures for the final toxic Euro 218 hp 635CSi was 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and 138 mph, for the 256 hp US M6 (s38B35) factory figures were 6.8 seconds and 142 mph.

[e12euro]

MM is quoting about 285 hp.

If you go to their website, read the write up about their design, much of it is what someone like me would do on their own. Other than the reason for the new pistons which from an engineering standpoint is outside of my engineering background. Everything I’ve read makes sense.

As I mentioned before, I was going to attempt to rebuild the motor on my own which is within my mechanical capability. But after talking with Jim, there are more than a few areas where the tolerances are outside of my scope to measure and adjust. And there is way more to building a motor than a cam and high compression. So for once in my life I am happy to pay someone else to scrape their knuckles and pull on a torque wrench. It wasn’t a easy decision as I’ve never paid someone else to work on a car that I can work on.

The proof will be in the end result eh?

I think you made the right move. With a Motorsport engine you pay through the nose for horsepower that a M30 can get close to. Alpina's 3.5L and AC Schnitzer 3.7L were around 260 hp, not far from the M88's 286 hp. Group A racing 635CSi only used the M30. The following video is of a 295 hp coupe:

1985 Group A 635CSi

LS V8 swaps and turbo M30s would bring more power, but wouldn't be a drop in engine swap like the Metric Mechanic unit. Turbo M30 and LS swaps involve custom re-engineering, especially LS swaps. At least with a turbo M30 you could start with a M106 and build more power than the stock 252 hp, but LS swaps would involve different gearbox, special propshaft, diff and axle half shafts to handle the torque, plus all the engine wiring harness match up troubles. You would need a donor C6 Corvette, and swap a lot in. At least with the MM3700 engine the spending and work stops when you buy the motor!

[gwb72tii]

minimal progress over the past couple weeks to report. First it was framing my wife's "she shed". Then it was COVID last week. After 2-1/2 years both my wife and I caught it at the same time. bummer. Feeling better now so trying to get some things done.

Refurbished the chrome rings around the headlights. I don't have a before pic but let me say, they weren't shiny, at all. And then replaced all bulbs with the help of Daniel Stern. If you haven't used him for headlight help, he's one of the good guys IMHO.
nice and shiny


Part of buying used cars is not knowing what you're getting, like frozen corroded headlight adjustment screws. Soaked them in white vinegar overnight and a lot, not all, of the rust came off. They turn now at least. So back into a fresh batch of vinegar and then assembling them with the lights into their headlight brackets which have been repainted black. That and installing a headlight relay kit as well.



The Hella's are getting old, and my eyes are getting old. I'm hoping I'll be surprised when I finally drive at night. One of the challenges to living in the great Pacific Northwest is the long winter months, where its 4:30pm, its dark and its raining. Great headlights are a big deal around here and Maeve will be my daily.
Daniel Stern has volunteered to send me a list of what parts are needed to be able to install modern headlights. Maybe down the road.